


Urban Magic RWBY: Profiles And Additional Content

by wintersjackson



Series: Urban Magic RWBY [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-04 03:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2908490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintersjackson/pseuds/wintersjackson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chapter 0 in an ongoing series mixing RWBY with the world of Urban magic and modern fantasy.<br/>Work will be updated as relevant, but sometimes extra relevant work will be kept only at original posting at<br/>slateofargent.tumblr.com/tagged/urban-magic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Profiles

Ruby Rose: The daughter of the human Tai Yang and a Reaper, Ruby is still a little bit immortal and maybe not quite as adult as she should be. While her heritage is fairly easy to guess-being able to summon an enormous spectral scythe at will and appearing to be a skeleton in direct sunlight-Ruby is still blissfully unaware of the real meanings of her inheritance. Eventually Ruby will be responsible for escorting the dead on their way, but for now, she lives happily with her sister and is attending college.

Weiss Schnee: While coming from a human (and proud) family as rich and privileged (and human) as they come, Weiss has come to realise that she too may be a part of the recently un-hidden world. Having accidentally come into her shamanistic abilities Weiss is able to witness and interact with all supernatural forms of life and is struggling with her new-found responsibilities as a watcher and peacekeeper.

Blake Belladonna: The only being on this list with no human blood at all, this Black Cat spirit of misfortune has a history spanning decades and worlds. However, something Up High has decided to take something she did personally, because when the fledgling Shaman Weiss Schnee awoke her powers, the spirit bound as her Familiar and Spirit Guide is a certain Cat. Stuck looking after the girl and supposedly teaching her(???) Blake feels she can be forgiven for being a little grumpy at times.

Yang Xiao Long: To her own amazement, Yang is the child of Tai Yang and an elemental, a being composed of living flame. Having her emotions intricately linked to ash, heat and flame makes hiding her gifts a fruitless endeavour, so Yang generally embraces her identity and punishes those who take it personally with much prejudice. Her status as a half-human however leaves her unstable, and if her powers run away from her they are capable of consuming directly from her if not quenched.

Jaune Arc: A human so vanilla you could make a cake with him, Jaune is nonetheless a veritable scholar of the un-hidden world (at least to the degree that anyone can be at this point.) He is currently composing his dissertation on the fantastic (And one Valkyrie in particular who is happy to answer the strangest of questions), the first of it’s kind.

Nora Valkyrie: In the aftermath of the reveal, most supernatural communities are starting to stick together and watch each other’s backs. As a near-limitless army of wise and powerful peacekeepers, the Norse Einherjeren and Valkyries are pulled in as general peacekeepers and supernatural police. Nora is not planning on wasting any time she doesn’t have to with work, however- the world is so much more interesting than she remembers. Such things as movies, sugar, and boyfriends are serving to fill her time quite well.

Pyrrha Nikos: One of the older and wiser Valkyries, Pyrrha is the head of her Garrison, keeping the region organised-but has somehow managed to pick up a cute little human whose naivete makes her smile, which helps pass the time.

Lie Ren: Another student, Lie Ren breaks the mold by not having actually intentionally getting involved in the supernatural. Having no supernatural ties or heritage at all, Ren was quite happy letting bygones be bygones until finding out the girl he’d just finished his eighth date with was, in fact, a Valkyrie, who generally mate for life. Since, Ren has gotten a lot closer to a friend with a strong interest in the Fantastic and is getting to learn a bit more about the world he’s apparently now stuck with.

Sun Wukong: A Japanese shapeshifting trickster Kami, Sun isn’t having fun unless chaos is being inflicted. This generally means one hell of a lot of travelling, as few places interest him for long.

Neptune Vassilas: A Deep One hailing from R’lyeh, Neptune is one of a generation hatched to make surface ties and interact with a world that is apparently ready for them. However, something got into the birthing mix and he’s a little too human for his own good.

Velvet Scarlatina: A rabbit spirit from a group of travelling spirits, Velvet is an impromptu ambassador-and, if the situation demands it, a fairly terrifying whirlwind of destruction. Just because rabbits are cute and cuddly does not mean their patrons are.

Cinder Fall: A Djinn, one of the old order of spirits that predated the Fae’s spread and once ruled the mystical world. Cinder has not forgotten this. Having strong mystical powers and even greater powers over her dominion, flame, Cinder has her brand on many groups seeking to destabilise the modern world, with or without their knowledge.

Roman Torchwick: While now a minor name among Faeries, a wildfae as sarcastic as he is illusive, it is no secret that a mere few decades ago, he didn’t exist-at least as he is now. His title, “Lord of Brownies”, tells the full tale, for before his domination and ruling of the group he too was a mere Brownie. Now a Sidhe, one of the nobles of Faery, he claws and grasps at power as much as he ever did from below.

Mercury Black: One of the shadowy consorts of Cinder Fall, Many don’t initially take this lost Gargoyle seriously. Gargoyles are watchers, wardens at most. This derision never outlasts seeing him fight, for Mercury is somehow faster than the eye can see and hits like the cathedral he abandoned all at once. Whether stone can indeed crumble is indeed hard to tell- no-one has laid a blow on him yet. As for why a protector of the faith like a Gargoyle follows one like Cinder Fall, none can tell, and he is admitting nothing.

Emerald Sustrai: Many have tried to draw the attention of this elusive beauty, as much as for the rumours of her hoard of wealth as the pleasure of her company. Whether through magic or charm, none seem to question the details until too late. A Greater Ghoul, an avatar of necromantic magic, Emerald’s pleasing form warps into a great, gruesome titan of darkest magic. Most see her “collection” only once, and that briefly-a palace of rotting corpses and ravenous spirits of the dead, raised in hunger and savagery by the horrible presence of their murderer.

Neo Politan: This diminutive, silent figure follows Roman happily, present on his shoulder through all kinds of sins and giving no clue what that satisfied smirk might hide. Were she only to open her mouth,one might experience it in person: Known in our world as Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy. For all the gore and pain this Neo inflicts and witnesses with a smile, her true form only epitomises, a towering ethereal banshee with steel claws and a voice which brings death to any who hear. Still, she seems quite happy being small, and unimportant, and insignificant. The feral grin as bones break and children scream is enough to keep her pleased.

Junior Xiong: A name known around the city as the “guy who knows a guy”, Junior has no magic and only a sliver of frost giant in his ancestry to make him anything special at all. Despite this, the man seems to know every Fae, every spirit, every treaty, every weakness, every rule such being must follow. Called upon as an “Arbiter” for important matters by Gods and Faerie courts alike, it is unsurprising attempts at blackmail and threats are levelled his way every week. Still, few get the chance to try twice, as Junior is happy to prove that Knowledge and Preparation beat teeth and claws every time, and assaulting the host is to surrender any protection as guest one might have.

Melanie and Miltiades Malachite: So the legend goes, once there was only one Malachite girl. By no means smart, or strong, a human girl with no true drive or strength. Still, this girl, whose name is carefully “lost”, entertained the efforts of a Sorcerer convinced he could split the Heaven from the Hell in a person, producing two perfect beings. Needless to say, his ritual was a partial success. Melanie and Miltia are both strong, fearsome, prideful, fearless and sadistic. However, the Sorcerer tapped into something else entirely: Neither girl has aged a day in sixty years, both are leagues above their original in strength, intelligence and charisma, probably as a result of their other new power. At will, each can call upon one of heaven or hell into themselves, turning two strong but defeatable girls into an incredibly pissed off Greater Succubus and Divine Power.

Griselda Schnee: One of the previous generation of magical creatures and magic users with a secret but iron-fast link to the Schnee family. Gris keeps her powers hidden from her family as Weiss will after her, but may be the sign Weiss needs that maybe her future is possible after all.

Karrinansidhe: A mysterious and ancient Fae linked to the one called Gris-but maybe through another tale entirely.


	2. Karrinansidhe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Centuries in the past, two heroes of their time dance in the twilight.

Blade clashed on scale and mail scraped against tooth as the dragon and the knight danced across the ruin, the thunder of their blows sending great waves of light and sound into the darkening sky. They had been moving together for hours, the knight sensing the being lurking within the shrine soon after the sun reached it’s fragile peak, and still neither had found a weakness in the other’s defence.

_Silverscale_ , Konda had resolved to name the beast when he smote it down. Its body was thin and wingless, and no flame came from its maw, but it flowed like water in the way it moved so fast and its scales were bright and clear and sent his strongest blows skating off in a shower of sparks and the scraping of metal.

_River-soul_ , was what Kiryuin had come to think of the human who hopped like a rabbit beyond her snapping jaws, as. Its sword was broader and did not dull from her scales, as few of those brought against her had. Likewise its hopping and ducking under her limbs and claws she had seen before, though rarely in the ones clad in iron and wielding blades. No, she had chosen the name from the devotion it seemed to hold to their battle. Humans were brief, short-lived creatures, living and breathing and slipping and falling all in one mad rush. Yet this one had stayed, and fought, and danced, till even her muscles began to shake on her more adventurous gambits.

Although neither dreamed of the other sharing the sentiment, both had come to respect the other. In another world, as the moon rose above them, the two may have come to a peace together. Despite their differences, the two would leave as one kind, understanding the other.

But that would not come to pass.

“Hold that pose? I’m getting so bored over here I thought I’d literally take a picture and you keep moving before I finish.”

_There are human magics and there are wild magics, the humans say._

The two shared a silent look as something foul slowly spread across the air, and turned in unison to face the new arrival.

“Okay, I promise if you hold still, there will be a minimum of throat slitting. No? No deal? Not even a polite decline for me?” The girl moved slowly back, amused, as the dragon and the knight slowly closed in. They moved either side in an unspoken agreement that whatever this intruder was, their presence was _wrong_.

_Sorcerers and mages bend wild magic through human experience, meaning demons and spirits can learn the techniques but never replicate the results._

Both lunged at once and the girl twisted faster than she had any right to, sword and teeth knocking lightly together to clash as she slipped just out of reach. Silverscale twitched her tail at the last moment and it flicked back, heavy tip swinging at the girl. Somehow she sensed it coming and jumped aside, but just for a moment a bare foot came down on a metal plate and cold flames sprang up from it before she shifted. River-soul’s eyes narrowed in understanding.

_Witches and seers bend human belief into their work, producing magic spirits can barely understand, yet alone replicate._

He’d heard of the spirits called Fae, far in the west, that the earth so hated that its iron would burn them to touch. Yet he had been taught that their nobles and warriors were tall in stature, and only their servants and pawns were small, yet this girl came barely up his chest. He swung again, ferrying her towards Silverscale’s metal grasp, but she ducked and dodged and they were facing each other again as she wheeled free.

_But perhaps the most human school of all is that of the binders_.

They drove her to the stream that filled the centre of the courtyard, that ancient fallback of cleansing the Kami and impure, but she stepped across it without care, laughing as she did. What was this being, that the rules that governed the world failed to apply?

_Magic is barely used in their craft at all, using sheer mortal obstinacy to somehow make bonds far, far stronger than any ward._

Silverscale was struggling, muscles beginning to shake as her strength faded, but she managed to predict the movement of the girl and hit her with a great swing of her body, sending her crashing into the remains of the shrine that collapsed around her. The dragon gave a great sigh of relief-until the laughter sounded and the girl broke free of the many bodies weight of rubble, skin dusty but unbroken.

S _ome use bottles and lamps, taking dark spirits and binding them safely away where they can do no harm._

He forced her back with broad, sweeping strokes while the dragon covered the girl’s route of escape, and when the girl realised her mistake his blade was already flying down upon her. But steel met only cloth, as she seized a fallen banner from the wreckage and with it somehow turned his sword aside. Then that cloth was clogging and covering his face, and he was forced to retreat before she attacked. But she did not.

_Some bind to swords and crowns and weapons, magical armourers making literal miracles in steel and gold._

The dragon was swift, and unbreakable, and smooth, but her muscles trembled and threatened to drop her among the stones. The knight was wise, and immoveable, and skilled in the use of his weapon, but his tricks were near depleted and his sword could not find flesh and he despaired of his impossible foe.

_But there are a few, rare and elusive, who go a step beyond_.

Finally the girl stumbled and the two lunged, and only too late did River-soul see their folly. The girl whirled and was gone, and silver blade went between silver jaws before there was a thud, and a crunch, and neither could fight any more.

_What better prison and weapon combined than the soul supplying the power in the first place?_

Karrin walked leisurely around the newly armless human, dragging a finger leisurely over his shoulders as he stared dumbfounded and horrified at the corpse of the dragon, his sword protruding from the top of her skull like a horn. She had expected a little more concern at the stumps where his arms used to be, but humans had never been sensible creatures. It had been a difficult challenge, she mused as she slowed to a halt behind him, with far too much burning iron, but she’d had no real doubt she could outwit these two dumb lovebirds.

And the prize was beyond worth it.

Grasping his hair by the knot she drove her fist down into his body, grasping that silvery, wriggling thing and tearing it free. She eagerly chomped it down, chaining it and absorbing it and feeling it take its place. A spirit that would never tire, spread across her essence like a veil. Enjoying the new sensation of wakefulness and comfort even after such a long fight, she took her time moving to the body of the dragon. Even dead its scales glowed with angry heat when her hand moved near them-but it belonged to her now, by right of conquest. Pulling the dinky sword free from its resting place amidst dragonbone she began to hack and saw and cut at the beast’s wrists, letting the blood run free as her prize slowly came loose.

When she walked away from the wreckage as dawn rose, she admired the way her new silver hands glinted in the sun’s rays. A gentle touch proved this silver could burn her no more-but she felt a mighty urge to travel home to Faery and shake her queen by the hand.

Imagine what deliciousness would come of binding the soul of a Fae queen.


	3. Cat and Mouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and Weiss agree to spend the offered evening of relief from their duties.

Blake and Weiss agree to spend the offered evening of relief from their duties.

Once, Blake had been one of the most feared beings in Faery. She’d cast off the courts that every being in the realm was supposed to bend the knee to, to the point where she was generally either praised for her appearance or hunted on sight. The Queen of outlaws, the most wanted figure in Faery.

But that was a long time ago. Now she was shackled to a Shaman and doing politics. They’d even played Arbiter for the Queens of Faery once or twice, which had been more than a little awkward even with her no longer a hunted figure. She’d refused to turn her eye away from the queens, which strangely enough they’d seemed to approve of. Seeing as she’d come to the summit peacefully this time, she actually thought they may have liked her.

The thing was, no matter how big a change from her old life it seemed, she liked the life she led now. She was making a difference, she wasn’t being hunted. She had Weiss. And those were all things she would have both dreamed of and thought beyond her reach, once upon a time.

Today’s visit hadn’t even been the boring kind, one of the werewolf pack’s adopted little monsters dropping in quite literally and doing wonders to break the tedium that normally came with these checkups. With the actual work out of the way the Alpha had even invited them to stay the night, which Blake approved of simply because it meant Weiss wouldn’t be dozing off on the road yet again. Or at least, that was the reason she’d willingly admit to. In truth, a house like this was a lot like the one Weiss had come from, with a few important differences.

Laughter echoed down the halls, games filled the shelves and cupboards, and the magic of home filled the space to bursting. Schnee manor may have been a bigger house, but this Wisteria mansion was definitely a home. Weiss would benefit from more time spent in a place like this, Blake had decided. With how politely their host was insisting, she’d known that Weiss wouldn’t be able to turn down a longer stay if offered. So they’d get an evening off, which Weiss deserved, and she’d get to see Weiss happy, which Blake felt she had earned in karma after helping out the kid. 

She’d gone back to feline form, padding down the long halls an inch from Weiss’s side as their little intruder snored on her back, hands wound into the thicker ring of fur around her scruff. The bat was one of the Wisteria’s foundlings, and very polite for what it was worth. And she’d helped earn Weiss an evening away from her duties, for which Blake was once again grateful. Now she snored happily, oblivious to the moment of bliss happening around her. Moments of isolation for the two weren’t quite rare, but moments of closeness like this were a rare treat. The fact Belle had recognised them as a loving couple despite their attempts at subtlety, and the fact she had seemed to approve in her own way despite everything, had meant a lot to Weiss-Weiss, with her parents who hadn’t talked to her since she’d gone public as the mid-west’s shaman. Whose only partner was from a race known for their manipulation and enticement.

Weiss hand had stayed on Blake’s head in simple communion for the duration of their slow, meandering walk to the offered lounge.

Still, it was the sight on the other side of the door which actually brought them to a halt. A girl no older than ten holding a rat half as big as her like a sack of flour, which she carefully dumped on a sofa before approaching with a polite curtsey.

“Good evening. I’m Sable, and this is Brindle.” The rat gave a loud squeak, head nosing curiously towards them from the arm of the sofa. The two responded with bows of their own, sharing a quick look. Sable was actually pulling the role of Host to a tee, raising the question of whether she was actually a foundling, or maybe Belle’s own.

“Please make yourselves comfortable,” Sable continued, motioning at the sofas and climbing up herself once again, allowing “Brindle” to dive into her lap once again. Blake surreptitiously glanced at the two through her Other eyes. Weiss relied on her staff to copy that trick, and it was currently sitting pretty in the umbrella-stand, so she gave her companion a quick leading look.

“A werewolf and a were…rat, it seems,” Blake responded with a hint of surprise. At their age most Lycans would have difficulty accessing or controlling their other form aside from the nights of the full moon, but the wererat moved like she’d been born this way.

Another presence in the room had caught Blake’s eye, however, and she wandered over as Weiss relieved her of the sleeping bat-child and sat down with the kids, slipping into conversation with them with ease borne of experience. The third child sat at the other end of the room, head buried in a book, apparently oblivious to the newcomers completely. And, Blake realised, clad in a simple glamour. Childlike in its simplicity, fittingly, but a little piece of magic woven to make the wearer not invisible, or hidden, but just a little less interesting to the wandering eye. A Fae trick, she mused, padding up him and glancing over his shoulder. Another supernatural foundling, it seemed. Two little dog ears poked out of a dark mop of hair, twitching slightly as she breathed in his smell. Canine, unsurprisingly.

She was about to take another sniff for more information when he suddenly glanced over his shoulder, freezing as he stared up her. She was about to introduce herself when he gave a short, high scream and fell through the floor.

Blake stared at where he had been sitting with shock, before glancing back at where Weiss has trying to hide a grin and Sable was looking around in confusion.

“Where did Slate go? I thought he was reading a book or something?” The girl asked, frowning. Weiss gave Blake a pointed look and the feline coughed guiltily, smoothly shifting back into a more human shape as she approached the girl.

“Does…Slate happen to disappear sometimes?” She asked cautiously. Sable seemed deep in thought for a moment before responding.

“Sometimes. Mum says one of his parents was a Fae Hound, so he can do a load of fairy-things. He’s not very good at them though.” She stopped, blinking at at Blake for a moment. “Aren’t you a fairy? Mum said you were a sidhe, and that’s a type of fairy.”

Weiss hid that smile in a hand again and Blake carefully kept her expression blank. Changelings, people with one Fae parent and one human, were far from rare, and taking from both parents was the norm. For a child with the instincts of a minor fae to look up at one of the most powerful Fae on the continent…

Blake coughed, giving an attempt at a friendly smile. “I think I may have given Slate a bit of a shock. Are there any rooms beneath this one?”

~

Blake pushed the cellar door open carefully, cautious of perhaps frightening the child even more so. The large room went on long past what the light coming from the door could reach, and when she tugged the cord next to the door she was only mildly surprised when the light flickered on for a few moments before plunging the room back into darkness. Not that Blake minded too much- her own black-on-black eyes had never relied on something so fickle as there being light.

It was easy enough to slip back into the role of tracker, following the long and sometimes branching corridors in the reverse of the route she’d used to reach the door from the first room. From there, it was a simple measure to follow the panicked breathing-right until it went silent, the body shooting away when Blake was practically in reach. Silently she cursed herself as she tried to follow the trail for not thinking. If he’d been scared of her the first time, why would her silently creeping up on him in total silence do anything to change that? But, it had been old habits. Hunting was easy. Children were complicated.

This time when she got close she pulled a Fae-light into being when she found him, a tiny floating ball that emitted warm, soothing light over every surface. He flinched even from that, backed into the gap between a large cabinet and the wall, but Blake didn’t move in this time. Instead she sat down, crossing her legs on the cold stone, and held up a hand in greeting.

“Hello, Slate. My name’s Blake. I’m sorry for scaring you- can we talk?”

~

He surprised her by taking her hand on the walk back through the tunnels, slipping his into hers as they retraced their steps. It wasn't due to the darkness, at least- the Fae-light shone constantly from just above her, banishing shadows from view. She’d been fighting for “lesser Fae” like him once, a long time ago, but generally from a distance. Certainly she’d never seen them like this, small and vulnerable and clinging to her for safety. The ones she’d fought beside were mostly hardened, or bitter, or following dreams and false promises to their deaths. This, she realised fondly, was a little more like who she’d been fighting for.

When they returned to the lounge, Slate’s little hand still wrapped tightly around hers, the three other kids had draped themselves over Weiss. One hand was held out towards the carpet, tiny gestures bending tiny wisps of illusion to accompany the story she was telling them. One of their own, Blake realised fondly.

It was a new experience to hear the story from Weiss’s perspective, she mused as she sat down and the pup-no, the boy, she reminded herself-immediately jumped up and burrowed into her lap. The way Weiss told it Blake sounded like…well, a hero. She saw the subtle glance as Weiss checked she was listening, before diving into-yes, Blake recognised this story. Weiss had chosen the one with Neo, where she herself was helpless and Blake saved the day in true heroic fashion. The spirit rolled her eyes, but tried to hide the smile. The kids were soon staring at her in awe anyway.

_You’re mocking me_ Blake’s stare transmitted, and Weiss’s eye sparkled in return

_Nah_ , the wink responded casually. _Just being honest with you._


End file.
